OLYMPICS

OLYMPICS; U.S.O.C. Official Quits Over Tie to Utah Group

By JERE LONGMAN

Published: January 15, 1999

An executive of the United States Olympic Committee resigned last night after it was revealed that he had a business relationship with the Salt Lake bid committee.

The official was Alfredo LaMont, the United States Olympic Committee's director of international relations. The U.S.O.C. did not describe the business relationship in a statement, except to say that it had been made through the office of Tom Welch, who resigned in 1997 as president of the committee in Salt Lake City.

One Olympic official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that LaMont had received a four-figure consulting fee per month from Salt Lake City. Dick Schultz, executive director of the U.S.O.C., said he believed the work had occurred in the early 1990's, before Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Games, in 1995, and said it did not appear that Lamont's work had anything to do with vote buying. LaMont did not return a phone call seeking comment.

''We concluded that Mr. LaMont's activities, which he indicated he pursued independent of his U.S.O.C. responsibilities, nonetheless constituted a conflict of interest,'' Schultz said.

Also yesterday, Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, said that nine I.O.C. members face possible expulsion and four face lesser penalties, but an I.O.C. member investigating the Salt Lake City bribery scandal said it was premature to speculate on possible sanctions.

Speaking to The Associated Press in Lausanne, Switzerland, Samaranch said that letters had been sent to 13 I.O.C. members implicated in the Salt Lake City scandal, asking them to explain their actions involving such matters as cash payments, tuition aid, medical treatment and lavish gifts.

Samaranch said that nine of the 114 I.O.C. members face possible expulsion and four face lesser sanctions such as warnings or censure.

But Jacques Rogge, a Belgian surgeon, who is one of six members on the I.O.C. panel investigating allegations of vote-buying in Salt Lake City, said in an interview that it was ''way too soon'' to say how many of the 13 face possible expulsion.

Rogge declined to name any of the 13 I.O.C. members who have been sent letters.

Olympic officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified 10 of the 13 yesterday. Seven have previously been linked to the Salt Lake City scandal and have denied wrongdoing. They are Anton Geesink of the Netherlands, Jean-Claude Ganga of Congo Republic, David Sibandze of Swaziland, Bashir Attarabulsi of Libya, Agustin Arroyo of Ecuador, Sergio Santander Fantini of Chile and Pirjo Haeggman of Finland.

One Olympic official said that letters had also been sent to Vitaly Smirnov of Russia, Lamine Keita of Mali and Charles Mukora of Kenya. None of the three could be reached by telephone for comment.

The official said that Keita was being asked to explain tuition assistance, while Smirnov was being asked to explain his recommendation of medical treatment for a hockey player.

The I.O.C. members have been asked to respond to the letters by Tuesday. An I.O.C. commission, headed by Dick Pound of Montreal, will report on irregularities in the Salt Lake City bid to the I.O.C.'s executive committee on Jan. 23 and 24.

Recommendations will also be made for sanctions against I.O.C. members. Pound and Anita DeFrantz, an I.O.C. vice president from the United States, have said that some I.O.C. members will be asked to resign.

If those members do not resign, they will be suspended and face expulsion by a two-thirds vote of the I.O.C. assembly at a June meeting in Seoul, South Korea, Samaranch told The Associated Press.

Samaranch said that he had no intention of resigning in the wake of the Salt Lake City scandal, despite calls by several Olympic officials in recent days. He also gave less than an ironclad assurance that the 2002 Winter Games would be held in Salt Lake City, saying that it was the I.O.C.'s hope and desire that the Games be held in Utah.

But Rogge, who is also a member of the I.O.C.'s executive board, said emphatically that the Games would remain in Salt Lake City. ''The people of Utah and the athletes deserve that,'' Rogge said.